[ad_1]
Beirut – The delegation formed by Lebanon to negotiate the demarcation of the maritime borders with Israel met with the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Joseph Aoun, in the framework of preparatory meetings prior to the start of the talks between the two parties under the auspices of the United Nations in the middle of next week in southern Lebanon.
About ten days ago, Lebanon and Israel announced that they had reached an understanding to begin negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations at its headquarters in Naqoura in southern Lebanon, in a step that Washington, which will play the role of mediator and facilitator. , described as “historical”. The first meeting will be held on Wednesday.
The Lebanese delegation met with the Commander of the Armed Forces in its first official meeting after naming its four members. On Saturday, the Lebanese Army announced that General Joseph Aoun had met with the delegation in charge of the negotiation file to demarcate the borders, and gave “the basic guidelines to start the negotiation process with the objective of demarcation of the maritime borders to starting from the line that starts from Ras Naqoura by land and extends by sea according to the technique of the middle line (…) according to a Study prepared by the Army Command in accordance with international laws. The Lebanese delegation includes four military members, namely Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, Colonel Mazen Basbous, and civilians, namely technical expert Najeeb Masih and the head of the Oil Sector Authority, Wissam February.
According to a source in the Lebanese presidency, the delegation began its preparatory meetings, and that it will meet early next week with the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, and then with the representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Jan Kubis.
On the other hand, two days ago, Israel announced its delegation, which includes high-ranking officials, including the Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Udi Adiri, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s diplomatic adviser, Reuven Azer, and the head of the Department. of Strategic Affairs of the Army.
According to Lebanese officials, direct negotiations will not take place between the two delegations but will take place through the United Nations representative, even if all parties will sit in one room. However, Israel said, according to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, that the talks would be “direct.” – (AFP)
